Following in the footsteps of FC Inter Milan and FC Arsenal, who last month announced school openings in the Middle East and North Africa, Real Madrid is scheduled to sign an agreement on Monday to establish Saudi Arabia’s first sports academy.

The agreement between the Real Madrid Foundation (RMF), the club’s social outreach arm, and the Prince Salman Foundation is to be signed by Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Salman and RMF President Florentino Perez, who is also the head of Spanish construction company ACS.

Real Madrid sealed a sponsorship agreement with Saudi Telecom (STC) six month after playing an exhibition match against Riyadh’s Al-Nassr Club.

As part of the deal, STC is entitled to use 12 minutes of every Real Madrid home game the team played for promotional purposes in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Indonesia. It also guarantees that 70 Saudis can do summer training with Real Madrid and offers Real Madrid mobile subscribers the chance to attend club local and international matches.

The schools in the Middle East and North Africa offer the European premier league clubs an opportunity to generate cash and scout for young talent.

They also allow ruling Arab elites, rattled by mass anti-government protests across the Middle East and North Africa, to project an image of tackling an issue that has sparked criticism from the media and soccer professionals alike as a result of all Middle Eastern nations being knocked out of the Asia tournament in Qatar by the quarter finals.

The Jeddah-based Arab News noted in an editorial immediately after the Asian Cup that Saudi Arabia, a country that historically has put a greater premium on religious education than on learning the skills that advance careers, has yet to allocate resources to develop soccer at a young age or establish a training academy for talented players.

Arsenal, which already operates schools in Bahrain, Dubai, Oman, Morocco and Egypt said last month that it would be opening this year at least six more schools in the Middle East and North Africa. Inter-Milan announced the opening of a school in Abu Dhabi.

In a burst of optimism, Arsenal included Tunisia, which has been wracked by protest demonstrations for more than a month that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and inspired demonstrators to take to the streets across the Middle East in protest against rising commodity prices and lack of political freedom.

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James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile